The Double

by Susan Gregersen

  “Back to the castle, driver,” Agent Smith called. To Kay and agent Jones he said, “we’ll wake up the chef and he can make us a snack. In fact, I’ll call ahead.”

  They went through a gate and parked in an underground garage. Kay was pretty sure it was the one they were at last time. Moments later when they stepped out of the elevator onto a red carpet, she knew where they were.

  “The chef? Did you mean the President’s chef? The White House Chef?” she asked.

  “Of course. What did you think I meant?” he asked. They led her straight to the kitchen where they all enjoyed a late-night snack of cheeseburgers and fries in the White House kitchen.

  Kay was trying to take it all in but she was nodding off to sleep. They walked her to another part of the building and she couldn’t even remember if they got on the elevator at all.

  They entered a suite of rooms. Kay was to sleep in a room that was guarded by the secret service agents. It had a bed on each side of the room, and an intruder would have to go between them to get to the door to Kay‘s room. Once they were in bed invisible laser lights would sound an alarm if anyone walked through. Kay wondered why a ‘double’ would get such protection.

  But she didn’t wonder long. She fell into deep sleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.

  The next morning Kay dressed in her own clothes and sat in a chair by a window, reading a book she found on a shelf next to the window. Seconds later she laid the book on the small table next to her and got up and paced the room. She came back to the window again and pulled the sheer curtains aside.

  She recognized the yard from movies and pictures. It was the backyard of the White House. No one was out on the lawn. On the other side of the iron fence she could see the street filled with morning traffic, and people walking on the sidewalk. Buildings went off every direction.

  As exciting as it all seemed, she preferred the quiet and tranquility of their farm in the country. She wondered if she’d hear birds if she sat on the White House Lawn.

  There was a knock on the door and she hurried to open it. Agent Smith filled the doorway. “Come on, let’s get breakfast. Agent Jones isn’t quite human until he gets his coffee and doughnut.”

  Kay eagerly followed him out of the room, and the three of them left the suite. Breakfast was served Continental style. She dished up scrambled eggs and sausage, and popped a couple of waffles in the toaster. Walking by a tray of doughnuts and sweet rolls she grabbed a cinnamon roll.

  After setting her tray on a table next to the two agents she went back for a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee. Agent Jones sat down with a cup of coffee and two doughnuts.

  Kay watched him for a moment, then casually asked, “Did you walk a beat or drive a patrol?”

  “I did a beat for a while, then--” he began.

  “Jones!” Agent Smith warned.

  Agent Jones looked from Agent Smith to Kay and back. He cleared his throat and took a bite of doughnut, chewing slowly. After a sip of coffee he asked Kay, “how did you know?”

  “Well, duh! The coffee and doughnuts! Everyone knows that’s what cops live on,” she said. “Sorry,” she said, as an afterthought.

  “I knew an officer once that didn’t even like doughnuts,” Jones said.

  Agent Smith sighed. “Finish your breakfasts. We have work to do.”

  “What’s the schedule for today?” Kay asked between bites.

  “You have a couple hours to pass this morning, so we‘re going to go over pictures and bios for the luncheon, as well as specific protocol to this event, and step-by-step of what and where you should go. We have a diagram of the floor plan and seating arrangements, so you shouldn’t have many surprises. Then at 10:30 you need to go over to Gino and Andrea for your makeover. Oh, and Madeline wanted us to bring you by before we head over there,” said Agent Smith.

  “Madeline wants to see me?” Kay asked. She hoped that was a good thing.

  They threw their trash away and stacked the trays. As she followed the agents through the maze of hallways and elevators, and even a flight of stairs, she wondered how long it took to become so familiar with all the routes.

  Finally they stopped beside a door. “This is Madeline’s sitting room,” said Agent Smith. A Secret Service agent was seated on a chair in the small foyer near the door. He spoke quietly into a microphone attached to an earpiece, and the door opened.

  A woman in a uniform motioned for Kay to come in. “She’s resting over here near the window,” the woman said.

  Kay entered the room and saw Madeline sitting in a chair identical to the one she herself had been sitting in this morning. The same table sat next to it, and matching bookshelves stood beside the window, which was covered with the same type of sheer curtains.

  “Good morning, Kay,” Madeline said in a tired, scratchy voice. Kay walked over and sat in the chair facing her. Madeline’s eyes were puffy and red, and her hair was a mess. “Jilly, we’ll be all right. Why don’t you go have your breakfast while Kay and I talk.”

  The woman nodded and left the room. When they were alone, Kay spoke. “Good morning. You don’t look so good, Madeline. I mean, no offense or anything.”

  “None taken,” she smiled sadly. “Remember I told you I was going to be a Grandma? Well, it’s not to be. Henry’s lovely wife, Gracie, lost the baby yesterday morning. It turns out she was carrying twins, and they’re both gone.” She stifled a sniffle.

  “Oh! I’m so sorry,” Kay said compassionately, putting a hand on the First Lady’s arm. Madeline reached up and squeezed Kay’s hand, then left hers over Kay’s.

  “I was already coming down with a cold, and we could have treated the symptoms and I would have gone to the museum last night, but when I heard about the babies---” her voice broke and a tear slid down her cheek. “Well, I just couldn’t. I’m grateful we never told the press. Now the kids can mourn privately.

  “How are they doing?” Kay asked gently.

  “They’re crushed, but optimistic about having the chance again in the future to start a family. I think it hasn’t completely hit them yet,” Madeline said. “You know, they had me tell you about the pregnancy to see if you would leak it to the press. To test your discretion. If you had, then when the press released it we would have simply confirmed it.”

  “But I would have been out of a job, right?” Kay asked. Never had it even passed through her mind to tell anyone. She hadn’t even told her husband. She had felt it was such an honor to be trusted with the news that she wouldn’t have ever considered violating that trust.

  “Yes,” was all Madeline said.

  “Who would have believed me anyway?” Kay asked ruefully. “No one knows I’m your ‘double’, and in real life I don’t even look like you, as you can see looking at me right now. The media and everyone else would have assumed I was some kind of nut case!”

  “They would have at first. Once it was officially released they would have been back to find out what else you know,” said Madeline. “It’s really in your own best interest to not even let the media get a foot hold with you. You’ll never get rid of them if you do.”

  “I’m starting to see that. I couldn’t believe the mob outside the museum last night,” said Kay, shaking her head.

  “You know what I wish?” asked Madeline. She laid her head against the back of the chair and looked dreamily at the ceiling. “I wish Gino and Andrea could make me up as you, and I could go live your life for a day!”

  “I wish I could take you home with me for a couple days!” Kay said enthusiastically. “I’d love to introduce my kids to you, and show you our house and the garden, and sit on the porch with you and listen to the birds in the trees!”

  “How lovely it sounds!” Madeline said.

  The uniformed woman returned, and Agent Smith told Kay they needed to leave. She bade farewell to Madeline and asked her to pass on her condolences to Henry, Jr. and Gracie.

  Moments later Kay was seated in the beautician’s chair
and Gino and Andrea were happily re-creating her as Madeline. Her hair was pinned down and a coiffed wig placed on her head. She was given a silk pantsuit to wear. It was black with thin white stripes, and a white blouse underneath. A red scarf finished it off.

  “Okay, off we go,” Agent Smith said when they were done.

  “With a heigh and a ho!” said Agent Jones, who received a look of reprimand from Agent Smith.

  “Jack, grow up!” Kay said. To lessen the edge she smiled slightly and touched his elbow.

  “Oooh, ick, she touched me!” said Agent Jones, dramatically pulling his arm back and wiping it off.

  “In a minute I’m going to ask her to hit you!” growled Agent Smith.

  They climbed into the black car and the driver nosed the car out into the traffic. They had told Kay the driver’s name was James, which was interesting to her because they also told her the pilot’s name was James. She wondered if it really was a coincidence or their names really weren’t ‘James’.

  The luncheon was a fund raiser for a group that promoted literacy among minorities. They raised money to teach them to read, and to buy books for this cause. Madeline was known as someone who loved reading, and who’s passion was education and children.

  James pulled into a circular drive and stopped in front of a carpeted sidewalk. Valets were on hand to help Kay out of the car, even though Agents Smith and Jones were used to doing that.

  “Mrs. Jackson,” they acknowledged respectfully. She knew the protocol of her assumed station and raised her chin in response, and walked briskly toward the doors, leaving the agents to follow slightly behind and on each side of her. There was no need to protect her from mobs here.

  Recalling the diagram, and knowing that the real Madeline had been here dozens of times, she walked confidently through the foyer and turned left down a hallway. They took the elevator to the top floor, and Kay led the way to the banquet room.

  She took a quick breath of air when she saw the magnificent view of the Potomic River and the city surrounding it, but refrained from exclaiming and gawking. Seeing her reaction and how well she controlled it, Agent Smith subtly moved closer and murmured, “yes, it’s pretty awesome!” Agent Jones gave a barely perceptible nod of agreement.

  Kay circulated and greeted people. She tried not to mix them up, digging through the hastily-memorized bios of these people. Sometimes she made leading statements so they would say something to trigger her memory.

  She got thrown off guard a couple times when people asked questions she didn’t know the answer to. One time she managed to ‘suddenly remember’ something she wanted to ask them, and the question to her was forgotten. The next time she wasn’t going to be able to gloss it over. Her mind raced and she was about to panic.

  Feeling a faint tickle in her throat she gave a cough, then exaggerated it into a coughing fit. She choked out as proper an apology as she could, and excused herself to find something to drink to ease her cough.

  “Oh, dear, Madeline, I do hope you’re not coming down with something!” the woman said.

  Kay waved her hand back and forth in acknowldegement and dismissal and kept up her pretend coughing fit as she hurried over to the table covered with drinks and hors d’oeuvres. She took a glass of water and sipped from it.

  “Nice save, Bonzo!” whispered Agent Jones. She shot him a squirrely look. A small group of women approached, so the agents discreetly edged back a little, then moved to stand along the wall. Kay was a bit insecure without them by her side, but she continued to move among the other guests.

  She was grateful when everyone began moving to the tables and sitting. She already knew who would be seated around her, and had paid special attention to their information. This actually was turning out to be kind of fun, she thought.

  The food left a lot to be desired, in her opinion. Plates of salad and raw vegetables were placed in front of them. The salads were rich with shredded cheese and chopped boiled eggs among the greens and vegetables. Bowls of croutons were placed on the tables, but most of the women avoided them.

  Kay pulled one over by her plate and scooped three spooonfuls of them onto her salad. The woman across from her asked, “Madeline, are you not on the South Beach diet any more?”

  “No, I wasn’t finding it effective,” Kay answered. She forked a spoonful of lettuce and croutons into her mouth and crunched away at it. After she swallowed she dabbed at her lips with her napkin and said, “I’ve been studying the Paleo diet and thinking of giving it a try,” referring to one she’d heard of lately on the internet and actually knew nothing about.

  “Oh! I’ve been reading about that,” said another woman. Soon the women around her were happily discussing that diet plans, and Kay was left alone to munch her rabbit food and bread crumbs.

  She almost rolled her eyes when they came around and served everyone a bowl of fruit salad for dinner. It had about a tablespoon of whipped topping on top of the mound of fruit. Most of the women carefully lifted it off and discarded it on the side, but Kay ate hers without comment.

  Kay was relieved when it was finally time to go. They went straight to the airport and the other James was ready with the jet. Once in the air she changed back into her own clothes, washed her face and combed out her hair. She carefully hung the silk suit on a hanger and left it in the changing room. The agents would get it cleaned and return it to Madeline.

  “Tired?” Agent Jones asked as she slumped in the seat across the aisle from him.

  “Yes. And hungry. For real food, that is,” she said.

  Agent Smith returned from the changing room. He was wearing blue jeans and a blue t-shirt. “Come dig around in the cabinet. There’s all kinds of food in there.”

  Kay followed him to the small galley. “What happened to the overalls?”

  “These are more suitable. Those guys in ‘Undercover’ thought it was a hilarious joke to send us out in those,” said Agent Smith.

  Kay stood in front of the open cabinet and gazed in wonder at dozens of varieties of snack cakes, cookies, chips, nuts, pocket pies, jerky sticks, and microwavable soup cups. Agent Smith directed her to the refrigerator. Several choices of sandwiches were available, and microwavable cheeseburgers and chicken patty sandwiches.

  “Help yourself,” he said. He pulled out a burger, slashed the wrapper, and tossed it in the microwave. While it cooked he popped open a can of cola and tore open a pocket pie and started to eat it.

  “Eating your dessert before dinner, Fred? Shame on you!” teased Kay.

  “Don’t call me Fred,” was all he said.

  “Okay, Fred,” Kay said. At his look she said, “Oops! I meant Agent Smith. Why is it still such a big deal?”

  “It just is. Keeps things clean,” he said. Kay looked puzzled but didn’t say anything.

  “It’s classified,” said Agent Jones mysteriously, coming out of the changing room. He was wearing blue jeans and a green polo shirt.

  Kay found that funny and laughed. She pulled a ham and cheese sandwich out of the fridge, then reached back in for a root beer just as she was closing it. A chocolate fudge snack cake rounded out her lunch.

  By the time they finished their food and cleaned up the mess, the plane was landing. Kay was delivered back home in the old pick-up truck. She asked them to let her out at the end of the driveway and she walked alone in the late afternoon sunshine.

  No one heard her come. She climbed the steps and sat on the porch swing and listened to the birds singing in the trees around the house.

  Chapter 4

  Adventure Afar!

  Three weeks passed with no call or visit from the Secret Service men. Kay relaxed back into every day life as though being “Madeline” was just a dream she’d had. She saw Madeline and the President on the news and was glad to see Madeline looking better.

  She could detect the sorrow lines, but only because she knew Madeline was grieving. To others, she probably just looked tired, which was normal for someone in her position wit
h such a busy schedule.

  The European Union was having a conference, and one of the events was a women’s conference. She saw that the First Lady had been invited, as well as the wives of world leaders from around the globe. It was to be held in Switzerland, while some of the other meetings and events would take place in Paris and Frankfurt.

  After lunch one day Kay walked out to the mailbox to get the mail. Her youngest daughter, Amanda, walked with her. They held hands and swung their arms, laughing and singing silly songs. Just as Kay pulled out a handful of mail the old pick-up truck pulled up next to her.

  “We need you,” Agent Smith said, after he rolled down the window.

  “Now?” Kay asked. “For what? I didn’t see anything on Madeline’s schedule before the European conference.”